Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of
Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat.
Prince Albert designed the house himself in the style of an Italian
Renaissance palazzo. The builder was Thomas Cubitt, the London
architect and builder whose company built the main façade of
Buckingham Palace for the royal couple in 1847. An earlier smaller
house on the site was demolished to make way for a new and far larger
house.
Following Queen Victoria's death, the house became surplus to royal
requirements and was given to the state with a few rooms retained as a
private royal museum dedicated to Queen Victoria. From 1903 until 1921
it was used as a junior officer training college for the Royal Navy
known as the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Today it is fully open to
the public and free for English Heritage Members!
